California Governor Gavin Newsom says his state will boycott Walgreens over abortion pills. That’s funny because Walgreens is already boycotting parts of California thanks to rampant crime.

We’ll come back to Newsom after the older story. Back in 2021, Walgreens more or less pulled out of San Francisco because Nancy Pelosi’s home town effectively put up a “Grand Opening” sign for petty thieves. When city Democrats announced that anyone can steal up to $950 of retail merchandise and only rarely be charged with a misdemeanor, crime predictably skyrocketed. Videos abounded online of employees and customers watching helplessly as thieves loaded up bags with stolen goods and walked right out of stores.

It wasn’t long before Walgreens, for one, had enough and closed several stores in the city.

Now, Walgreens is back in the news because the nation’s second-largest pharmacy announced it would not sell abortion pills in 20 Republican-controlled states where lawmakers are working to save preborn humans. “We intend to be a certified pharmacy,” Walgreens said in a statement, “and will distribute Mifepristone only in those jurisdictions where it is legal and operationally feasible.”

Translation: We’re going to obey the law.

The decision really is a consequential one because a majority of abortions as of 2020 are thanks to pills, not procedures, and it’s only becoming more prevalent. Those abortions are not free of risk, either. The same people squealing about back alleys and coat hangers don’t mind at all that women may suffer serious side effects from the pills at home rather than a doctor’s office. Indeed, Joe Biden’s FDA is pushing those pills hard.

Republican attorneys general do mind, and they sent letters to Walgreens and CVS, the nation’s largest pharmacy chain, advising them of “our commitment to protecting the lives and dignity of children, but also of women.” The AGs also took direct aim at Biden’s Social Justice Department, which followed up FDA approval with a declaration that federal law does not prohibit mailing abortion pills.

Newsom and his ilk won’t have any of it. Having declared California a “sanctuary” state for abortion after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, Newsom made quite a show yesterday of announcing his new anti-Walgreens policy on Twitter:

“California won’t be doing business with @walgreens — or any company that cowers to the extremists and puts women’s lives at risk. We’re done.”

Does that mean the governor will return the $50,000 Walgreens gave him to stop his recall in 2021?

No, but it does mean the governor has canceled a $54 million state contract with Walgreens.

Set aside the fact that Newsom is, as usual, trying to make national policy out of his state’s laws. The core issue here is that it’s not “extremist” to save babies’ lives. After all, roughly half of all babies would grow up to be women if they’re allowed to live beyond the womb. Lives at risk? Only one out of two people survives an abortion.

We also might note rather humorously that Newsom failed to cower before the extremists in his own party who think men can be pregnant. Something tells us they’ll give him a pass this time.

In 2016, California issued a ban for any state-funded travel to any state with laws or policies “discriminating” against LGBTQ folks. It was a response to North Carolina’s law that people use restrooms according to their biological sex. Also targeted are states with the “wrong” policies on guns or abortion.

Newsom was unsurprisingly hypocritical, traveling to Montana for vacation. Yet the bigger irony is that so many Californians are fleeing the Golden State’s one-party dystopia for greener pastures in all those dreaded red states. But by all means, Governor Newsom, keep fighting on behalf of the extremists.

(Updated)